Tampa Bay spoil Lecavalier’s homecoming

AP, TAMPA, Florida

Fri, Nov 29, 2013 - Page 19

Victor Hedman had two goals and an assist to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 on Wednesday night, spoiling Vincent Lecavalier’s homecoming.

Lecavalier, who played 14 years for the Lightning after being selected first overall in the 1998 draft, faced his old team for the first time and scored a power-play goal late in the third period. The former Tampa Bay captain received a standing ovation after a video tribute was played on the scoreboard midway through the first.

Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson also scored for the Lightning, who have won seven in a row at home. Anders Lindback stopped Wayne Simmonds on a first-period penalty shot.

Mark Streit also scored for the Flyers, who were coming off a 3-1 loss Monday at Florida that ended a 6-0-1 stretch.

PENGUINS 6, MAPLE LEAFS 5, SO

In Pittsburgh, Evgeni Malkin had his first two-goal game in more than 18 months and added the game-winner in a shootout to rally Pittsburgh past Toronto.

Chris Conner, Kris Letang and James Neal also scored for Pittsburgh, who erased 4-1 and 5-3 deficits. Sidney Crosby added two assists to lift his point total to a league-leading 33 and scored in the second round of the shootout against Jonathan Bernier before Malkin finished it off.

Jeff Zatkoff stopped 11 of 13 shots after replacing ineffective starter Marc-Andre Fleury less than a minute into the second period.

James van Riemsdyk scored twice and added an assist for the Maple Leafs. Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri also scored for Toronto, but the Maple Leafs lost their way after taking a big lead.

Toronto failed to record a single shot in the third period or overtime.

There were no such problems for the Penguins, who fired a season-high 48 shots at Bernier. He made 43 stops, but went just one for three in the shootout.

BLUES 4, AVALANCHE 1

In Denver, Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves, while David Backes had a goal and an assist as the streaking St Louis Blues beat Colorado.

Alexander Steen scored his 20th of the season and Jaden Schwartz also had a goal for the Blues, who have won five straight.

Semyon Varlamov stopped 31 shots and Patrick Bordeleau scored for the Avalanche, who had won three in a row.

Colorado’s 17-5-0 start was a franchise best this deep into the season, but the Blues have been the better team lately. They have won 10 of 12 and earned points in 11 of those games.

One of their wins in that stretch was a 7-3 victory over Colorado on Nov. 14, which came in the middle of a three-game skid for the Avalanche.

Steen made it 2-0 on a power play, tying Washington’s Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead in goals.

BLACKHAWKS 3, FLAMES 2

In Calgary, Patrick Kane scored twice, including the tiebreaking goal with 18 seconds left, and Chicago rallied for three straight goals in the third period to beat Calgary.

Patrick Sharp also scored for the Blackhawks (18-4-4), the top team in the National Hockey League (NHL). The defending Stanley Cup champions improved to 4-1-0 on their seven-game road trip.

Matt Stajan and Sean Monahan scored for the Flames, who are 1-5-2 in their last eight home games.

After Sven Baertschi lost the puck, a shot from Niklas Hjalmarsson caromed off a skate and the puck went straight to Kane at the side of the net, who lifted a backhand over goalie Reto Berra.